The Jersey City Council passed two resolutions to hire lawyers to defend the police officers being sued for the fatal shooting of Andrew Washington at last night’s meeting after the issue was scrutinized during caucus, also forming an ad hoc committee.
A civil case against the police officers was launched last year after the August 2023 incident did not result in a criminal charges from a state grand jury.
The resolution to establish an ad hoc committee to study community-based mental health emergency responses was a late item added to the agenda and not discussed during their Monday caucus.
“Our committee has been advocating for the hiring of trained outreach workers to go out on emergency calls when JC residents are experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis, as well as staff to handle the emergency calls and training for the police department to handle this,” activist Bill Lillis of Jersey City Together explained…